Theatre for Children in Hospital

Persephone Sextou

Description

Recent decades have seen a new appreciation develop for applied theatre and the role of arts-based activities in health care. This book looks specifically at the place of theatre for children who are hospitalized, showing how powerfully it can enhance their social and mental well-being. Child-led performances, for example, can be used as a technique to distract young patients from hospitalization, prepare them for painful procedures, and teach them calming techniques to control their own pre- or post-operative stress. Persephone Sextou details the key theoretical contexts and practical features of theatre for children, in the process offering motivation, guidance and inspiration for practitioners who want to incorporate performance into their treatment regimen.

 

Foreword

Prologue

Introduction

Motivation and beliefs

Arts and health

The structure of the book

Chapter One: A TCH definition and more…

Applied theatre in hospitals

Theatre as an ‘antidote’ to clinical stress

A playful ‘marriage’ of two cultures, the artistic with the clinical in audience participation

The artist–child synergistic relationship

Ethical concerns

TCH and therapy

Chapter Two: The distinctive features of TCH practice and research

Background information of the study

Understanding the clinical context

The study: Methodology

Findings and discussion: TCH practice comes alive!

Chapter Three: TCH as a choice: ‘I want to make a difference!’

A philosophical approach to TCH

Aristotle

Heraclitus

My philosophy

Chapter Four: Concluding thoughts

Summary

The future of TCH

Appendices

Appendix One: Breathing with Love, the script

Appendix Two: The shape of our bedside theatre rehearsals 

Appendix Three: Writing a TCH proposal plan (bid)

Appendix Four: Example of application letter

Appendix Five: Guidance for applying for NHS Research Ethics Committee approval (for researchers only)

Note on the author

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• Performing Arts
• Theatre
• Performance art
• General officer
• General

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 15 décembre 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783206476
• Langue: English

Extrait

First published in the UK in 2016 by
Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2016 by
Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street,
Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright © 2016 Intellect Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Copy-editor: Emma Rhys
Cover designer: Holly Rose
Production manager: Amy Rollason
Typesetting: Contentra Technologies
Print ISBN: 978-1-78320-645-2
ePDF ISBN: 978-1-78320-646-9
ePub ISBN: 978-1-78320-647-6
Printed and bound by 4edge
Contents
Foreword
Prologue
Introduction
Motivation and beliefs
Arts and health
The structure of the book
Chapter One: A TCH definition and more…
Applied theatre in hospitals
Theatre as an ‘antidote’ to clinical stress
A playful ‘marriage’ of two cultures, the artistic with the clinical in audience participation
The artist–child synergistic relationship
Ethical concerns
TCH and therapy
Chapter Two: The distinctive features of TCH practice and research
Background information of the study
Understanding the clinical context
The study: Methodology
Findings and discussion: TCH practice comes alive!
Chapter Three: TCH as a choice: ‘I want to make a difference!’
A philosophical approach to TCH
Aristotle
Heraclitus
My philosophy
Chapter Four: Concluding thoughts
Summary
The future of TCH
Appendices
Appendix One: Breathing with Love, the script
Appendix Two: The shape of our bedside theatre rehearsals
Appendix Three: Writing a TCH proposal plan (bid)
Appendix Four: Example of application letter
Appendix Five: Guidance for applying for NHS Research Ethics Committee approval (for researchers only)
Note on the author
Bibliography
Index
Foreword
Theatre for Children in Hospital: The Gift of Compassion explores the practice of theatre in clinical settings as an important strategy of normalizing children’s experience of illness while spending time in hospital for treatment. This book breaks new ground in applied theatre practices and processes for young people. It provides insights into the world of the hospitalized child through the under-researched area of the dramatic and examines ways that participatory and intimate performance can alleviate passivity, boredom and clinical anxiety associated with hospital life. It witnesses ways of preparing children for painful procedures, relaxing them before and after surgery, and enhancing emotional and social wellbeing. It brings theatre into hospital wards and reconnects the artist to the realities of children’s everyday burdens. Through engagement with disciplines such as health and wellbeing, creativity, philosophy of illness and psychology, the book provides a basis for understanding the use of theatre for a better experience of life during illness.
The book researches and analyses a unique type of bedside theatre performance to argue for an approach that is sensitive, compassionate and attentive to the needs of children. Theatre for Children in Hospital: The Gift of Compassion includes original research of practice that is acutely sensitive to the problems and possibilities of this work. It focuses on a five-year research study conducted with children, their families and artists in NHS (National Health Service) hospitals in the United Kingdom (paediatrics, general pathology and cardiac and oncology wards). It offers explicit examples of one-to-one and moment-by-moment interventions for children (4–10 years old) incorporating storytelling, live music, soft toys and relaxation practice. Transcriptions of exciting dialogues, breathtaking incidents and observations of children participating in bedside performance illustrate what really happens when theatre goes to hospitals. Special moments between the child and the artist in performance; happy and enthusiastic reactions to characters; incidents of empathetic communication; challenging moments of ambiguity and clinical emergencies; ‘magical’ moments of escape from the clinical through the fictional; and true stories of children and artists being present together in theatre and in illness become material to interrogate the claim that theatre in hospital can only be theatre for entertainment.
The book is a critical handbook for the artist. It is a ‘what is’, ‘who for’, ‘why do it’ and ‘how to’ guide on bedside performance-making for those with an interest in theatre, children and healthcare. It seeks to inform readers about a special type of participatory drama aimed at making a challenging time (being ill in hospital) easier. It also aims at educating the reader on this applied theatre intervention from the perspective of the child-patient, the family and the nursing staff who share the hospital experience with the child, as well as the artist who participates in the theatre event. The book provides a concise summary for professionals and trainees in drama, theatre studies and performing arts and healthcare; primarily actors, facilitators and community artists, and secondarily play specialists, nurses, teachers in educational centres in hospitals, and therapists who work with children in clinical environments. It reveals the importance of applied theatre as a way of adding a playful dimension to illness with sensitivity, respect, empathy and compassion for the audience. The book will appeal to both experienced practitioners and newcomers with an interest in using theatre to entertain, relax and help children and their families maintain their optimism about life in hospital and during recovery. Readers will identify with many aspects of the theatrical experience as artists and drama students, or as parent/carers of children and nurses in children’s hospital wards, and perhaps make new meanings of theatre through performing in contexts of illness. This book uses research evidence and personal reflections to articulate that Theatre for Children in Hospital (TCH) is a powerful, narrow slice of applied theatre practice with major potential.
Prologue
In medical dictionaries a heart is defined as a hollow muscular organ in a person’s chest that pumps blood through veins and arteries (Merriam-Webster 2014). In biblical dictionaries, a heart ( kardía ) is defined as the affective centre of our being, of all physical and spiritual life, and the capacity of moral preference (Thayer 1995; Hughes 2006).
What if a heart is transformed from a pump into a place where emotions are felt, an organ that can flow affection and compassion into human relationships and can bring humans into communion with each other? If we, the artists, are to contribute to the wellbeing of children who experience illness through theatre, we need a heart that behaves like a kardía . We need the gift of compassion. The gift of compassion is perhaps the most important of the many gifts that a warm and caring heart can offer to humanity. Seeing through the heart is not a cliché . To see through the heart means that the artists do not use their talents to show children as less able to do things because they are ill. Theatre for Children in Hospital (TCH) is interested in using the art form to encourage children to believe in themselves and participate in the performance, hoping that they will use this confidence to do things outside the performance too. This is an ambitious investment because, usually, the child is associated with illness and disability. TCH aims to disassociate children from their illness. By this, I mean that TCH avoids any possible stigmatization of children as disadvantaged compared to children who are able to go to the theatre and might feel more advantaged. Children in hospital are limited to the things they can do but TCH offers them opportunities to revise this condition. It offers them experiences of aesthetic involvement. Children are invited to make decisions about the aesthetics of the performance, to do things and participate cognitively, verbally and physically, as far as the condition of the child allows. A compassionate heart acknowledges the child as important to the theatrical process and as a vital part of the aesthetics of TCH.
We often feel alone in our efforts to care for others, as others do not necessarily have the same desire that we do. We feel that the conditions of contemporary life are such that compassionate life is almost impossible. Life is often a chain of struggles, injustices, misunderstandings, misjudgements, disapprovals, betrayals and, therefore, almost justified actions of error, intimidation, pain, rage and revenge. But if we are to visit hospitals to perform to children, we should first consent to work with compassion. Compassion allows us to enter into a relationship with our audiences and develop an empathetic understanding of children who experience illness as other equal members of our community. I remember a colleague who asked me at a conference what I mean by ‘community’ in a hospital context. I replied, ‘I mean sharing’. He asked ‘Do you mean the sharing of hospital as a location, or the sharing of common health experience?’ This was such a great question! I said to him that I want to share the experience of illness with the children who get entertainment in hospital. I want each bedside theatre performance to become a means towards sharing and monitoring their hospital experience and diverting their minds away from the anxiety of not living a life at home. Undoubtedly, there can be a lot of pain in a child’s life when illness knocks at their door but there are also many little things to celebrate such as birthdays, the smell of chocolate, the warmth of the sun coming through the window, painting, creativity, family, friendships, happ